Ripples, One Year Later
by Lirin Sama
Summary: Rei is mourning the one year anniversary of of his pet cat when Kai comes to investigate a noise. Rei retells the last moments of his pet's life to Kai.


I do not own Beyblade or the characters.

* * *

Kai woke to hearing the soft muffled sounds of someone crying. It was faint and he almost didn't believe he heard it, but his time in the Abbey made him wake up to investigate the noise.

He easily slipped his feet into his slippers and left his room. In the hall he heard it again. Someone was crying, but it was too faint to pinpoint which room it came from.

The Dojo felt chilly as he walked down the hall without a shirt. Tyson's room was first. He didn't bother to knock and just allowed himself in. On the bed Tyson was sprawled out with his sheets mostly on the floor and the Dragon was soon to be joining them head first too. But he was not crying.

Kai quietly closed the door and moved on to the next, Max's room.

Again he allowed himself access without knocking. The blond had his nightlight on bathing the room in its soft glow. He easily saw that Max was curled up on his side and a bit of drool stuck to his face and a teddy bear wrapped in a hug. Kai softly laughed at how innocent the boy was even in his sleep. He was willing to bet all his money the boy was also dreaming of candy and other sweet things.

That was two rooms down, and since neither were creating the crying noise, Kai proceeded to the final room, Rei's.

Kai paused outside this door and listened. Coming from the other side was a muffled sob. Kai felt his heart stirring for the younger boy.

"Rei?" he called and knocked softly. Kai waited patiently for a response. But all he heard were the muffled sobs.

"Rei, I'm coming in" Kai said as he opened the room. As the door swung opened the room feel into a depressed silence.

Rei's room was pitch dark and Kai had a hard time making his way to the bed.

"Rei?" he called scanning the dark room for the boy. It was hard to see anything in here without a light. But he slowly and carefully made his way to the bed. When he got there he realized no one was there.

"_Shit Rei, where are you? Why do you have your room so dark?"_ Kai questioned in his head as he looked around. Even though he had been in there for several minutes, he could still barely make anything out. The room was too dark and left Kai to reply on his hearing to find the saddened Neko-jin.

Kai was waiting patiently in the dark for any sign of Rei. He was useless without a clue as to where he teammate was.

Rei shifted on his chair as he curled around a small wooden box. He sniffled as his hand ran over the smooth surface.

Kai heard the sound and carefully moved closer. When he got to where the noise was coming from he knelled down and reach out his hand.

Rei jerked when he felt a hand touching his head. He looked at the intruder with wide puffy eyes. He sniffled a bit and wiped some tears away.

"Kai...what are you doing in here?"

Kai unknowingly smiled at Rei. "I heard you. Are you alright?"

Again Rei snuffled. He took his eyes off Kai and looked down at the box he was curled around. His fingers played along the top, stroking it as if it were real.

"What do you have there?" Kai asked trying to be nice. The soft smooth voice pulled Rei's attention back to him.

"I-it's a..." Rei took a deep breath hoping to calm himself. He felt as if he was going to burst an minute.

"This was my best friend...until last year."

Kai looked confused and Rei realized that.

"He was..." Rei bit his lip, "he was my first cat," tears started to stream down his face. "Last year I had...had to put him down."

"Oh Rei" Kai didn't know what he was doing as he leaned forward and pulled Rei into a hug. "I'm sorry."

Rei leaned into the hug and let all his tears out wetting Kai. "He was with me most of my life" Rei continued to sob out. "Ever since I was a small kit myself. And then..."

"Shh, you don't have to tell me. I understand it must be hard for you."

Rei shook his head. He wanted to tell Kai. He wanted someone to know the meaning of this day for him.

He hiccuped and took a deep calming breath. Being in Kai's arms were helping.

"Ripples was 17 years old. Everyone told me I was lucky for him living so long. I thought we'd be together forever," he paused to collect himself because he felt a new wave of tears forming. Kai sat there patiently waiting for Rei to continue, he could sense the other was going to. When Rei was ready he started up again. "Then last year, my little cousin was over for a week, but long before that Ripples was sick.

"I remember I didn't want him to come for Ripples' sake, but it didn't happen. That night I went to check his litter, he had been having trouble getting in the box, and when I saw the pad..." Rei cut off for a loud sob. And Kai could guess where this was going.

"You found some blood?"

Rei nodded and another sob escaped his lips. Kai felt bad and began rubbing Rei's back.

"My mom and I took him to the vet that night. I remember it was beginning to rain. Ripples was on the seat next to me looking a bit confused as to what was happening. I told him it was going to be okay..."

Rei story ending with Kai putting the last piece in place. It had turned out being okay with the ending of the cat being put out of his pain. Kai felt his heart going out to the one he held.

"That was last September 2" Rei finally said. "A year ago today."

"I'm sorry Rei."

Kai felt the Neko nodding his head. Again he had lost to the tears that spilled from his. He had decided that in honor of the cats memory that practice for the day was canceled. And that no one was going to bother Rei, he'd personally make sure of that.

* * *

This fic was written in memory of dear Ripples. One year ago he was put to sleep and I still terribly miss him. He was my best friend and we survived much together. I still can not believe that a year has passed. It does not seem possible, but it is sadly true. But even though I can no longer hold and pet him I carry him close to me in my heart.

Thank you all for reading this. And remember to treasure your pets because you never know when they're last day will come.


End file.
